Transmitting device, receiving device and methods thereof using an interleaved codeword

ABSTRACT

A transmitting device is described for a communication system. The transmitting device obtains an information message comprising information bits addressed for a receiving device and encodes the information message to obtain a codeword. The transmitting device rate-matches the codeword to produce a rate-matched codeword comprising systematic bits and parity-check bits. Furthermore, the transmitting device jointly interleaves the systematic bits and parity-check bits of the rate-matched codeword to obtain an interleaved codeword. The systematic bits of the interleaved codeword are mapped to modulation label positions of a modulation constellation with first reliabilities, and the parity-check bits of the interleaved codeword are mapped to modulation label positions of the modulation constellation with second reliabilities.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/EP2017/072643, filed on Sep. 8, 2017, the disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to a transmitting device and a receiving device.Furthermore, the disclosure also relates to corresponding methods and acomputer program.

BACKGROUND

Bit-interleaved low density parity check (LDPC) coded modulationrepresents one of the most commonly used transmission schemes forwireless communications capable of operating very close to the systemcapacity. Some international standards including IEEE and 3GPP, undernew radio (NR), adopted LDPC codes with adaptive modulations of order upto 256QAM to achieve very high spectral efficiencies.

NR LDPC codes are quasi-cyclic (QC) LDPC codes of a length n and adimension k<n. These codes are specified as the null space of a k×(n+2Z)binary systematic parity-check matrix (PCM) H where the first 2Zsystematic codeword bits are punctured. The binary PCM H is generated inthe following way:

-   -   Selected a base-graph matrix H_(BG) according to the criteria        specified in NR specification among two possible base matrices        H_(BG,1) and H_(BG,2), depending on the codeword length n and        dimension k;    -   Lift H_(BG) by a lifting size Z, where Z is determined based on        the codeword length n and dimension k, to obtain H.

Lifting consists in the following steps: the matrix H is obtained byreplacing each element of H_(BG) with a Z×Z matrix, according to thefollowing:

-   -   Each element of value 0 in H_(BG) is replaced by an all zero        matrix 0 of size Z×Z;    -   Each element of value 1 in H_(BG) is replaced by a circular        permutation matrix I(P_(i,j)) of size Z×Z, where i and j are the        row and column indices of the element, and I(P_(i,j)) is        obtained by circularly shifting the identity matrix I of size        Z×Z to the right P_(i,j) times. The value of P_(i,j) is given by        P_(i,j)=mod(V_(i,j),Z). The value of V_(i,j) is given by the set        index i_(LS) and the selected base matrix.

The NR LDPC encoder maps the information vector i=(i₁, . . . , i_(k)) ofsize k to a vector d=(d₁, . . ., d_(n+2Z)) as

d=iG   (1)

where G is a binary matrix of size k×n called generator matrix. In caseof systematic codes, the generator matrix has the following structure:

G=[I_(k) P]  (2)

where I_(k) is a k×k identity matrix and P is a k×(n−k) matrix. When thegenerator matrix is in systematic form, as in (2), a parity check matrixcan be easily obtained as

H _(S) =[P ^(T) I _(n−k)]  (3)

where P^(T) denotes the transpose of P. It is worth noting that anymatrix H that satisfies the following condition:

GH^(T)=0   (4)

where 0 is an all-zero vector with (n−k) elements, can be used as aparity check matrix for the code generated by G. Therefore, anyfull-rank matrix obtained from linear combinations of the rows of H_(S)is a parity-check matrix for the code generated by G. The parity-checkmatrices specified in NR are not in systematic form (3).

The NR LDPC codeword vector c=(c₁, . . . , c_(n)) is obtained bypuncturing the first 2Z systematic bits from a vector d. Therefore, thecodeword vector c has the following structure:

-   c=(i_(2Z+1), i_(2Z+2), . . . , i_(k), w_(n−k+2Z)), where w=w(w₁, . .    . , w_(n−k+2Z)) are parity-check bits obtained such that

${H \times \begin{bmatrix}i^{T} \\w^{T}\end{bmatrix}} = 0.$

Thus, the NR LDPC code is not systematic. However, its codewords containa large subset of the information bits that enter the LDPC encoder. LDPCcodes are typically decoded using low-complexity iterative algorithmsthat perform belief-propagation (BP) on a bipartite graph whoseadjacency matrix is the PCM of the LDPC code.

Modulation symbols are drawn from a constellation χ_(l)={s₁ ^((l)), . .. , s_(M) _(l) ^((l))} belonging to a set of available constellationsχ={χ₁, . . . , χ_(L)}. Each constellation χ_(l), l=1, . . . , L, ischaracterized by a size M_(l)=|χ_(l)| and an order m_(l)=log₂ M_(l). Alabeling L(χ_(l)) associates to each constellation symbol of χ_(l) adistinct binary vector of m₁ bits. For ease of notation, theconstellation index is hereinafter dropped and reused again when needed.Each bit in the binary label of constellation χ is characterized by abit-level capacity, conventionally defined as the mutual information ofeach bit in the constellation's binary label, measured whenconstellation symbols are transmitted on a certain channel, e.g. theadditive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. In particular, in aconventional bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) scheme, at thetransmitter each m-tuple (e₁, . . . , e_(m)) of coded bits is mapped toa constellation symbol s E χ which is then transmitted. At the receiver,a detector computes log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) of the transmitted bitsas

$\begin{matrix}{\lambda_{k} = {{\log \frac{P\left( {e_{k} = {1y}} \right)}{P\left( {e_{k} = {0y}} \right)}} = {\log \frac{\sum\limits_{{s \in {\chi:{\mathcal{L}_{k}{(s)}}}} = 1}{P\left( {sy} \right)}}{\sum\limits_{{s \in {\chi:{\mathcal{L}_{k}{(s)}}}} = 0}{P\left( {sy} \right)}}}}} & (5)\end{matrix}$

for k=1, . . . , m, where P(ε) indicates the probability that event εoccurs, y is the received signal and L_(k)(s) indicates the kth bit ofthe label associated to constellation symbol s. The bit-level capacityis defined as

β_(k) =I(e _(k);λ_(k))   (6)

where I(a; b) indicates the mutual information of symbols a and b. If,for example, the channel is AWGN, the bit-level capacity can beestimated as

β_(k) =m−

_(s,y)[log(1+e ^(λ) ^(k) )−

_(k)(s)λ_(k)]  (7)

where m is the constellation order and

_(s,y)[. ] denotes the expectation operator.

For most channels of practical interest, including the AWGN channel,bit-level capacities are monotone non-decreasing functions β_(k),k=1, .. . , m of the SNR ρ experienced on the channel.

SUMMARY

An objective of implementation forms of the disclosure is to provide asolution which mitigates or solves the drawbacks and problems ofconventional solutions.

The above and further objectives are solved by the subject matter of theindependent claims.

Further advantageous embodiments of the present invention can be foundin the dependent claims.

According to a first aspect of the disclosure, the above mentioned andother objectives are achieved with a transmitting device for acommunication system, the transmitting device being configured to obtainan information message comprising information bits addressed for areceiving device; encode the information message so as to obtain acodeword; rate-match the codeword so as to produce a rate-matchedcodeword comprising systematic bits and parity-check bits; and jointlyinterleave the systematic bits and parity-check bits of the rate-matchedcodeword so as to obtain an interleaved codeword, wherein the systematicbits of the interleaved codeword are mapped to modulation labelpositions of a modulation constellation with first reliabilities and theparity-check bits of the interleaved codeword are mapped to modulationlabel positions of the modulation constellation with secondreliabilities.

A transmitting device according to the first aspect provides a number ofadvantages over conventional solutions. An advantage of the transmittingdevice is to provide improved performance in respect of error ratecompared to conventional solutions, i.e. lower error rate for any givensignal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or equivalent quality measure. This is dueto the fact that the coded transmissions are more reliable by using thetransmitting device according to the first aspect. This is especiallythe case for low-density parity-check code (LDCP) coded transmissionswith high order modulation.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, each first reliability is higher than any secondreliability in an initial transmission.

The initial transmission is performed when a new information message istransmitted to the receiving device.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, each first reliability is lower than any secondreliability in a re-transmission.

The re-transmission occurs when the initial transmission wasunsuccessful and/or the receiving device indicates to the transmittingdevice that it did not successfully decode the information message. Thismay e.g. relate to re-transmission schemes, such as HARQ, etc. There-transmission is performed after the initial transmission.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the interleaved codeword is a matrix having m columns ands rows, wherein m is the number of bits in the labels of the modulationconstellation, and wherein s times m is at least equal to the length ofthe codeword.

An advantage with this implementation form is that the matrix form is asimple interleave structure which easily can be implemented, e.g. inhardware or in digital signal processing software.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the transmitting is further configured to, in an initialtransmission, circularly shift each row of the matrix so as to obtain are-arranged row for each row of the matrix, wherein all systematic bitsof a row of the matrix are arranged in the left-most positions of are-arranged row and all parity-check bits of the row of the matrix arearranged in the right-most positions of the re-arranged row, whereinbits in the left-most positions of the re-arranged row are mapped tomodulation label positions of the modulation constellation with a firstreliability and bits in the right-most positions of the re-arranged roware mapped to modulation label positions of the modulation constellationwith a second reliability.

An advantage with this implementation form is that circular shiftpermutations are simple to implement as the interleaver output can begenerated by simply sequentially reading the bits in their input,starting from a certain position, and wrapping around to first input bitwhen the last input bit is reached.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the transmitting is further configured to, in are-transmission,

circularly shift each row of the matrix so as to obtain a re-arrangedrow for each row of the matrix, wherein systematic bits of a row of thematrix are arranged in the right-most positions of a re-arranged row andparity-check bits of the row of the matrix are arranged in the left-mostpositions of the re-arranged row, wherein bits in the left-mostpositions of the re-arranged row are mapped to modulation labelpositions of the modulation constellation with a second reliability andbits in the right-most positions of the re-arranged row are mapped tomodulation label positions of the modulation constellation with a firstreliability.

An advantage with this implementation form is that circular shiftpermutations are simple to implement as the interleaver output can begenerated by simply sequentially reading the bits in their input,starting from a certain position, and wrapping around to first input bitwhen the last input bit is reached. Moreover, arranging parity-checkbits in the most reliable modulation bit label positions helps thedecoder to increase the coding gain, thereby resulting in a better errorprotection for the transmitted information message.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the transmitting is further configured to map eachre-arranged row onto a modulation symbol of the modulation constellationso as to obtain a plurality of modulation symbols; and transmit theplurality of modulation symbols in a communication signal to thereceiving device.

An advantage with this implementation form is that each re-arranged rowalready has the same size as the modulation label. Therefore, it issimple (low complexity) to perform a one-to-one mapping of there-arranged rows to modulation symbols.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the transmitting is further configured to, in an initialtransmission, select all systematic bits of each row of the matrix so asobtain a first sub-row for each row of the matrix, wherein a firstsub-row comprises all systematic bits of a row of the matrix, whereinbits in the first sub-row are mapped to modulation label positions ofthe modulation constellation with a first reliability;

select all parity-check bits of each row of the matrix so as obtain asecond sub-row for each row of the matrix, wherein a second sub-rowcomprises all parity-check bits of a row of the matrix, wherein bits inthe second sub-row are mapped to modulation label positions of themodulation constellation with a second reliability.

This implementation form is capable of grouping the systematics bits inthe most reliable modulation label positions and the parity-check bitsin the less reliable modulation label positions even when theinformation bits (and thus also the parity-check bits) are arrangednon-contiguously in a row.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the transmitting is further configured to, in are-transmission, select parity-check bits of each row of the matrix soas obtain a first sub-row for each row of the matrix, wherein a firstsub-row comprises the parity-check bits of a row of the matrix, whereinbits in the first sub-row are mapped to modulation label positions ofthe modulation constellation with a second reliability; and selectsystematic bits of each row of the matrix so as obtain a second sub-rowfor each row of the matrix, wherein a second sub-row comprises thesystematic bits of a row of the matrix, wherein bits in the secondsub-row are mapped to modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with a first reliability.

This implementation form is capable of grouping the systematics bits inthe most reliable modulation label positions and the parity-check bitsin the less reliable modulation label positions even when theinformation bits (and thus also the parity-check bits) are arrangednon-contiguously in a row.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the transmitting is further configured to combine thefirst sub-row and the second sub-row of each row in the matrix so as toobtain a combined row for each row of the matrix; map each combined rowto a modulation symbol of the modulation constellation so as to obtain aplurality of modulation symbols; and transmit the plurality ofmodulation symbols in a communication signal to the receiving device.

An advantage with this implementation form is that each combined rowalready has the same size as the modulation label, therefore it issimple (low complexity) to perform a one-to-one mapping of the combinedrows to modulation symbols.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the transmitting is further configured to determine acontrol message, wherein the control message comprises an indication ofa number of information bits of the information message, a number ofencoded bits of the codeword, and a modulation order of the modulationsymbol; and transmit the control message to the receiving device.

An advantage with this implementation form is that the control messageinforms the receiving device about the interleaving operations therebymaking easier for the receiving device to deinterleave.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the modulation constellation is a quadrature amplitudemodulation constellation.

An advantage with this implementation form is that quadrature amplitudemodulations are simple to implement and very widely used modulationswhich exhibit multiple reliability levels, thereby potentially providegood performance when used with the transmitting device according to thefirst aspect.

In an implementation form of a transmitting device according to thefirst aspect, the codeword belongs to a low-density parity-check codebook.

According to a second aspect of the disclosure, the above mentioned andother objectives are achieved with a receiving device for a wirelesscommunication system, the receiving device being configured to receive acommunication signal from a transmitting device, wherein thecommunication signal comprises a plurality of modulation symbols; de-mapthe plurality of modulation symbols so as to obtain a plurality of softbit labels, wherein each soft bit label of the plurality of soft bitlabels comprises systematic soft bits and parity-check soft bits;deinterleave the plurality of soft bit labels so as to obtain adeinterleaved soft codeword, wherein the systematic soft bits of theplurality of soft bit labels are de-mapped from modulation labelpositions of a modulation constellation with first reliabilities and theparity-check soft bits of the plurality of soft bit labels are de-mappedfrom modulation label positions of the modulation constellation withsecond reliabilities; and de-rate-match the deinterleaved soft codewordso as to obtain a de-rate-matched soft codeword.

A receiving device according to the second aspect provides a number ofadvantages over conventional solutions. An advantage of the receivingdevice is to provide improved performance in respect of error ratecompared to conventional solutions, i.e. lower error rate for any givensignal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or equivalent quality measure. This is dueto the fact that the coded transmissions are more reliable by using thetransmitting device according to the first aspect. This is especiallythe case for low-density parity-check code (LDCP) coded transmissionswith high order modulation.

In an implementation form of a receiving device according to the secondaspect, each first reliability is higher than any second reliability inan initial reception. Mentioned initial reception corresponds to theinitial transmission of the transmitting device.

In an implementation form of a receiving device according to the secondaspect, each first reliability is lower than any second reliability in asubsequent reception. Mentioned subsequent reception corresponds to there-transmission of the transmitting device.

In an implementation form of a receiving device according to the secondaspect, the receiving device is further configured to decode the de-ratematched soft codeword so as to obtain a codeword.

An advantage with this implementation form is that decoding corrects theerrors in the de-rate-matched codeword thereby delivering at its outputa more reliable message.

In an implementation form of a receiving device according to the secondaspect, the receiving device is further configured to obtain a controlmessage, wherein the control message comprises an indication of a numberof information bits of the information message, a number of encoded bitsof the codeword, and a modulation order of the modulation symbol; anddeinterleave the plurality of soft labels based on the control message.

An advantage with this implementation form is that by obtaining thecontrol message, the receiving device is informed about the interleavingoperations performed by the transmitting device thereby making easierfor the receiving device to deinterleave.

According to a third aspect of the disclosure, the above mentioned andother objectives are achieved with a method for a transmitting device,the method comprises obtaining an information message comprisinginformation bits addressed for a receiving device; encoding theinformation message so as to obtain a codeword; rate-matching thecodeword so as to produce a rate-matched codeword comprising systematicbits and parity-check bits; and jointly interleaving the systematic bitsand parity-check bits of the rate-matched codeword so as to obtain aninterleaved codeword, wherein the systematic bits of the interleavedcodeword are mapped to modulation label positions of a modulationconstellation with first reliabilities and the parity-check bits of theinterleaved codeword are mapped to modulation label positions of themodulation constellation with second reliabilities.

The method according to the third aspect can be extended intoimplementation forms corresponding to the implementation forms of thetransmitting device according to the first aspect. Hence, animplementation form of the method comprises the feature(s) of thecorresponding implementation form of the transmitting device.

The advantages of the methods according to the third aspect are the sameas those for the corresponding implementation forms of the transmittingdevice according to the first aspect.

According to a fourth aspect of the disclosure, the above mentioned andother objectives are achieved with a method for a receiving device, themethod comprises receiving a communication signal from a transmittingdevice, wherein the communication signal comprises a plurality ofmodulation symbols; de-mapping the plurality of modulation symbols so asto obtain a plurality of soft bit labels, wherein each soft bit label ofthe plurality of soft bit labels comprises systematic soft bits andparity-check soft bits; deinterleaving the plurality of soft bit labelsso as to obtain a deinterleaved soft codeword, wherein the systematicsoft bits of the plurality of soft bit labels are de-mapped frommodulation label positions of a modulation constellation with firstreliabilities and the parity-check soft bits of the plurality of softbit labels are de-mapped from modulation label positions of themodulation constellation with second reliabilities; and de-rate-matchingthe deinterleaved soft codeword so as to obtain a de-rate-matched softcodeword.

The method according to the fourth aspect can be extended intoimplementation forms corresponding to the implementation forms of thereceiving device according to the second aspect. Hence, animplementation form of the method comprises the feature(s) of thecorresponding implementation form of the receiving device.

The advantages of the methods according to the fourth aspect are thesame as those for the corresponding implementation forms of thereceiving device according to the second aspect.

The disclosure also relates to a computer program, characterized in codemeans, which when run by processing means causes said processing meansto execute any method according to the embodiments of the presentinvention. Further, the disclosure also relates to a computer programproduct comprising a computer readable medium and said mentionedcomputer program, wherein said computer program is included in thecomputer readable medium, and the computer readable medium comprises oneor more of the group: Read-Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM),Erasable PROM (EPROM), Flash memory, Electrically EPROM (EEPROM) andhard disk drive.

Further applications and advantages of the embodiments of presentinvention will be apparent from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The appended drawings are intended to clarify and explain differentembodiments of the present invention, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a transmitting device according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a receiving device according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows an interleaver structure according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 shows different structures of LDPC codewords according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an interleaver structure according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a method for a transmitting device according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows a method for a receiving device according to an embodimentof the disclosure; and

FIG. 8 shows performance of bit-interleaved LDPC according toembodiments of the disclosure compared with non bit-interleaved LDPC.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a block scheme of a transmitting device 100 according to anembodiment of the disclosure. A block scheme of a correspondingreceiving device 300 according to an embodiment of the disclosure isshown in FIG. 2. For providing an understanding of the disclosurementioned embodiments are described in a LDPC-coded transmission schemeusing quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) without being limitedthereto. Other codes and modulation techniques can be used inconjunction with the disclosure. For example, any linear block codes,such as turbo codes, serially-concatenated convolutional codes,Reed-Solomon (R-S) codes, Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes, andpolar codes can be used in conjunction with the disclosure. As formodulation techniques, any modulation techniques, such as M-QAM, M-PSK,M-PPM, can be used in conjunction with the disclosure.

The transmitting device 100 according to the embodiment in FIG. 1comprises an encoder 102 (in this example a LDPC encoder), a ratematcher 104, an interleaver 106, and a mapper 108 (in this example a QAMmapper) coupled to each other as illustrated in FIG. 1. The transmittingdevice 100 further comprises wireless 110 and/or wired 112 communicationmeans since the present transmitting device 100 can operate in awireless communication system, a wired communication system or in acombination thereof

The encoder 102 is configured to obtain an information messagecomprising information bits addressed for a receiving device 300 (seeFIG. 2). The encoder 102 is further configured to encode the informationmessage so as to obtain a codeword and forward the codeword to the ratematcher 104. The LDPC encoder 102 receives an information message Icomprising information bits and encodes the information message I so asto generate a codeword c. At the output of the LDPC encoder 102, thegenerated codeword vector c has length n bits. The first k−2Z componentsof the codeword vector c are systematic bits and the remainingcomponents of the codeword vector c are parity-check bits in the nonrate-matched case.

Upon reception of the codeword c the rate matcher 104 is configured torate-match the codeword c so as to produce a rate-matched codewordcomprising systematic bits and parity-check bits, the latter also knownas redundancy bits. In an initial transmission, denoted by redundancyversion ry=0, the rate matcher 104 punctures the last parity-check bitsof the codeword c and none of the initial systematic bits in thecodeword are punctured. In subsequent transmissions, the rate matcher104 punctures the systematic bits and the parity-check bits, where theredundancy version ry indicates a combination of systematic andparity-check bits that are punctured.

The interleaver 106 receiving the rate-matched codeword is configured tojointly interleave the systematic bits and parity-check bits of therate-matched codeword so as to obtain an interleaved codeword. Theinterleaved codeword is generally a matrix having m columns and s rows,wherein m is the number of bits in the labels of the modulationconstellation, and wherein s times m is at least equal to the length ofthe codeword. It should however be noted that in the case norate-matching is performed, the input to the interleaver 106 will be anon rate-matched codeword c. In this operation of the interleaver 106the systematic bits of the interleaved codeword c are mapped tomodulation label positions of a modulation constellation with firstreliabilities and the parity-check bits of the interleaved codeword aremapped to modulation label positions of the modulation constellationwith second reliabilities, such that each first reliability is higherthan any second reliability in an initial transmission, and each firstreliability is lower than any second reliability in a re-transmission.The codeword c=(c₁, c₂, . . . c_(n)) is then mapped to s=┌n/m┐modulation symbols, where M=2^(m) is the size of the modulatorconstellation. Mapping to modulation symbols is performed in thefollowing way: the codeword c is first interleaved by writing itcolumn-wise to a matrix B of size s×m (s rows, m columns), starting fromthe upper left corner and proceeding top-to-bottom first and thenleft-to-right. In this way, the (k−2Z) systematic bits in the codeword cwill be written in the leftmost ┌(k−2Z)/s┐ columns. If the codeword sizen is not an integer multiple of m, then N_(z)=(sm−n) zero-padding bitsare inserted at the end of the last column of matrix B. In this way, theinterleaver can handle codewords c of any integer size.

The content of matrix B is then read out row-wise, starting from thefirst row. The r^(th) row b_(r)=(b_(r,0), . . . , b_(r,m−1)) is read asa m-tuple b(i), . . . , b(i+m−1) and mapped to a complex-valued QAMsymbol x=l+jQ in the mapper 108. According to the modulation mappingtherein specified, in the m-tuple b(i), . . . , b(i+m−1) bits arearranged in non-increasing order of bit-level capacity, i.e., b(i),b(i+1) have the highest bit-level capacity, b(i+2), b(i+3) have thesecond highest bit-level capacity, . . . , b(i+m−2), b(i+m−1) have thelowest bit-level capacity. After QAM mapping, the complex modulationsymbols x are collected into a signal vector x and transmitted to thereceiving device 300 in a communication system 500.

The proposed interleaver operations permute the bit positions in acodeword so that the resulting permuted codeword contains a sequence ofsegments of coded bits, with each segment intended to be mapped to aseparate modulation symbol. Each segment contains parity check bits andsystematic bits arranged in a desired order. The interleaver hereintherefore jointly interleaves/permutes the systematic bits and theparity-check bits. Each first reliability is higher than any secondreliability in an initial transmission, and the initial transmission isperformed when a new information message is transmitted to the receivingdevice. Each first reliability is lower than any second reliability in are-transmission, and the re-transmission occurs when the initialtransmission was unsuccessful and/or the receiving device indicates tothe transmitting device that it did not successfully decode theinformation message. This may e.g. relate to re-transmission schemes,such as HARQ, etc. The re-transmission is performed after the initialtransmission.

Furthermore, as previously described there are cases with ry=0 (i.e. theinitial transmission) in which none of the initial systematic bits inthe codeword c are punctured and cases with ry>0 in which systematicbits are punctured.

Arranging systematic bits in the most reliable modulation bit labelpositions provides a higher robustness against transmission errors inthe initial transmission, as the systematic bits are delivered to thereceiver with higher reliability, thereby obtaining a better errorprotection for the transmitted information message.

For re-transmission, arranging parity-check bits in the most reliablemodulation bit label positions helps the decoder to increase the codinggain, thereby resulting in a better error protection for the transmittedinformation message when decoding is performed after a re-transmission.

In the initial transmission case, i.e., ry=0, the content of matrix Bcan be written as in FIG. 3, where the information bits are in theleft-most positions and the parity-check bits are in the right-mostpositions. This structure can be interpreted as a maximum-distanceinterleaver 106 with a particular ordering of the systematic bits andthe parity-check bits of the codeword c. The interleaver 106 jointlypermutes the systematic bits and the parity-check bits and, at the sametime, produces an ordering in which the systematic bits of theinterleaved codeword c are mapped to modulation label positions of amodulation constellation with first reliabilities and the parity-checkbits of the interleaved codeword c are mapped to modulation labelpositions of the modulation constellation with second reliabilities,wherein each first reliability is higher than any second reliability.

The cases of re-transmissions are now considered, i.e., when theredundancy version is ≥1. In this case, the codeword c is provided bythe encoder 102 and the rate-matcher 104 to the interleaver 106. Therate-matcher 104 writes the LDPC encoder output into a circular bufferand then starts reading the bits in the circular buffer from a certainposition. The initial position reading position in the circular buffermay correspond to systematic bit or a parity-check bit. Thus, thecodeword c entering the interleaver 106 may have one of the structuresshown in FIG. 4. For all cases except case (a) in FIG. 4, whichcorresponds to the non rate-matched case, the systematic bits would notbe placed in the leftmost columns of matrix B. Therefore, thosesystematic bits would not be mapped to most reliable modulation bits bythe interleaver 106. However, having parity-check bits mapped to mostreliable positions may be beneficial in a re-transmission following aninitial transmission where systematic bits are mapped to most reliablemodulation bits. This behavior has been observed in simulations and canbe explained by the higher coding gain brought by highly reliableparity-check bits.

In order to obtain the desired mapping of the systematic bits and theparity-check bits, it is disclosed an interleaver structure and mappingto modulation symbols as shown FIG. 5. In order to obtain the desiredmapping, the bits in each row of the matrix B are permuted using a rowinterleaver 120 prior to modulation mapping. The row interleaver 120permutes the m bits in each row of matrix B in a way that, afterinterleaving, the systematic bits are mapped to the most reliable orleast reliable bits in the modulation label depending on if thetransmission is an initial transmission or a re-transmission. In thefollowing disclosure two main solutions for structuring the rows of thematrix using the row interleaver 120 are described. In one solutioncircular shift is applied on each row of the matrix B, and in anothersolution two sub-rows are formed for each row the matrix B, wherein onesub-row comprises all systematic bits of a row and another one sub-rowcomprises all parity-check bits of the row.

According to an embodiment, the row interleaver 120 performs a leftcircular shift of each row of the matrix in the initial transmission. Inthe example shown in FIG. 5, each row is left-circularly shifted untilall systematic bits in that row occupy the first (left-most) positionsand all parity-check bits occupy the last (right-most) positions. Afterrow interleaving, each row is mapped to a modulation symbol. Hence, therow interleaver 120 herein is configured to circularly shift each row ofthe matrix so as to obtain a re-arranged row for each row of the matrixin which all systematic bits of a row of the matrix are arranged in theleft-most positions of a re-arranged row and all parity-check bits ofthe row of the matrix are arranged in the right-most positions of there-arranged row. The bits in the left-most positions of the re-arrangedrow are mapped to modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with the first reliability and bits in the right-mostpositions of the re-arranged row are mapped to modulation labelpositions of the modulation constellation with the second reliability.

According to another embodiment, the row interleaver 120 performs a leftcircular shift of each row of the matrix in the re-transmission. In anexample, each row is left-circularly shifted until all parity-check bitsin that row occupy the first (left-most) positions and all systematicbits occupy the last (right-most) positions. After row interleaving,each row is mapped to a modulation symbol. Hence, the row interleaver120 herein is configured to circularly shift each row of the matrix soas to obtain a re-arranged row for each row of the matrix in which allparity-check bits of a row of the matrix are arranged in the left-mostpositions of a re-arranged row and all systematic bits of the row of thematrix are arranged in the right-most positions of the re-arranged row.The bits in the left-most positions of the re-arranged row are mapped tomodulation label positions of the modulation constellation with thesecond reliability and bits in the right-most positions of there-arranged row are mapped to modulation label positions of themodulation constellation with the first reliability.

At transmission each re-arranged row is mapped onto a modulation symbolof the modulation constellation so as to obtain a plurality ofmodulation symbols. The plurality of modulation symbols are transmittedin a communication signal 510, in vector form denoted x, to thereceiving device 300.

According to another embodiment, the row interleaver 120 herein isconfigured to select all systematic bits of each row of the matrix B soas obtain a first sub-row for each row of the matrix B in the initialtransmission. The first sub-row comprises all systematic bits of a rowof the matrix B, and the bits in the first sub-row are mapped tomodulation label positions of the modulation constellation with thefirst reliability. Hence, in this first step the row interleaver 120reads all the systematic bits in its input vector sequentially from leftto right, skipping the parity-check bits, and sends those bits to itsoutput. The row interleaver 120 is further configured to select allparity-check bits of each row of the matrix B so as obtain a secondsub-row for each row of the matrix B. The second sub-row comprises allparity-check bits of a row of the matrix B, and the bits in the secondsub-row are mapped to modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with the second reliability. Hence, in this second step,the row interleaver 120 sequentially reads all the parity-check bits inits input vector from left to right, skipping the systematic bits, andsends the read bits to its output.

According to another embodiment, the row interleaver 120 herein isconfigured to select all parity-check bits of each row of the matrix Bso as obtain a first sub-row for each row of the matrix B in there-transmission. The first sub-row comprises all parity-check bits of arow of the matrix B, and the bits in the first sub-row are mapped tomodulation label positions of the modulation constellation with thesecond reliability. Hence, in this first step the row interleaver 120reads all the parity-check bits in its input vector sequentially fromleft to right, skipping the systematic bits, and sends those bits to itsoutput. The row interleaver 120 is further configured to select allsystematic bits of each row of the matrix B so as obtain a secondsub-row for each row of the matrix B. The second sub-row comprises allsystematic bits of a row of the matrix B, and the bits in the secondsub-row are mapped to modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with the first reliability. Hence, in this second step,the row interleaver 120 sequentially reads all the systematic bits inits input vector from left to right, skipping the parity-check bits, andsends the read bits to its output.

At transmission, the first sub-row and the second sub-row of each row inthe matrix B are combined so as to obtain a combined row for each row ofthe matrix B. Each combined row is mapped to a modulation symbol of themodulation constellation so as to obtain a plurality of modulationsymbols. The plurality of modulation symbols are transmitted in acommunication signal x to the receiving device 300.

By using the row interleaver 120 described in above embodiments, cases(c) and (d) in FIG. 4 are handled in the same way as case (b). It isfurther beneficial to consider that any row interleaver 120 does notchange positions of the N_(z) zeros in the lower-right part of thematrix B, as those zeros are already occupying low-reliability positionsand therefore moving them to other higher-reliability positions wouldresult in a waste of communication resources.

FIG. 2 shows a receiving device 300 according to an embodiment of thedisclosure. The receiving device 300 in FIG. 2 comprises a de-mapper 302(in this example a soft de-mapper), a de-interleaver 304, ade-rate-matcher 306, and a decoder 308 (in this example a LDCP decoder)coupled to each other as illustrated in FIG. 2. The receiving device 300further comprises wireless 310 and/or wired 312 communication meanssince the present receiving device 300 can operate in wirelesscommunication systems, wired communication systems or in a combinationthereof. Generally, the receiving device 300 is configured to performthe inverse operations as the ones performed by the transmitting device100 according to the disclosure.

A communication signal 520, in vector form denoted r, comprising aplurality of modulation symbols is received by the receiving device 300and forwarded to the de-mapper 302. The received communication signal520 is the transmitted communication signal 510 after having propagatedthrough one or more channels, such as a radio channel or a wiredcommunication channel.

The de-mapper 302 is configured to de-map the plurality of modulationsymbols so as to obtain a plurality of soft bit labels. Each soft bitlabel of the plurality of soft bit labels comprises systematic soft bitsand parity-check soft bits.

The deinterleaver 304 is configured to deinterleave the plurality ofsoft bit labels so as to obtain a deinterleaved soft codeword whichspans the plurality of modulation symbols. The systematic soft bits ofthe plurality of soft bit labels are de-mapped from modulation labelpositions of a modulation constellation with first reliabilities and theparity-check soft bits of the plurality of soft bit labels are de-mappedfrom modulation label positions of the modulation constellation withsecond reliabilities, and each first reliability is higher than anysecond reliability in the initial reception, i.e. receptioncorresponding to an initial transmission, and each first reliability islower than any second reliability in the subsequent reception, i.e.subsequent reception corresponding to a re-transmission. De-interleavingconsists of performing the inverse operation as the one performed by theinterleaver 106 in the transmitting device 100 so the deinterleaver 304obtains as its input the vector I=(l₁, . . . , l_(n)) of softdemodulated symbols and writes the vector I row-wise into a matrix B⁻¹of the same size as B, i.e., s×m (s rows, m columns) starting from theupper left corner and proceeding left to right first and then top tobottom. The content of B⁻¹ is read out column-wise from top to bottomfirst and then left to right to the de-rate-matcher 306.

The de-rate-matcher 306 is configured to de-rate-match the deinterleavedsoft codeword received from the deinterleaver 304 so as to obtain ade-rate-matched soft codeword.

Finally, the de-rate-matched soft codeword is sent to the LDPC decoder308 for decoding so as to output an information message.

In further embodiments of the disclosure a control signaling mechanismfrom the transmitting device 100 to the receiving device 300 isprovided. Therefore, the transmitting device 100 is configured todetermine a control message. The control message comprises an indicationof a number of information bits of the information message, a number ofencoded bits of the codeword, and a modulation order of the modulationsymbol. The transmitting device 100 transmits the control message to thereceiving device 300 (not shown in the Figs.).

Correspondingly, the receiving device 300 is configured to obtain acontrol message. The control message comprises an indication of a numberof information bits of the information message, a number of encoded bitsof the codeword, and a modulation order of the modulation symbol. Thereceiving device 300 uses the information in the control message fordeinterleaving the plurality of soft labels. Therefore, the receivingdevice 300 will be informed about the number of information bits, numberof coded bits in the transmitted codeword and modulation order. The onlyadditional information that the receiving device 300 further needs inorder to determine the interleaver structure is knowledge of theredundancy version rv. This information about the redundancy version rycan be obtained, for example, from a local scheduler that computestransmission parameters for each transmission based on channel qualityinformation, or from a remote device through a control channel, etc.

The receiving device 300 can receive the control message from ascheduler, a control node of the communication system, or directly fromthe transmitting device 100.

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of a method according to an embodiment of thedisclosure. The method can be implemented in a transmitting device 100,such as the one in FIG. 1. The method 200 comprises obtaining 202 aninformation message comprising information bits addressed for areceiving device 300. The method 200 further comprises encoding 204 theinformation message so as to obtain a codeword. The method 200 furthercomprises rate-matching 206 the codeword so as to produce a rate-matchedcodeword comprising systematic bits and parity-check bits. The method200 further comprises jointly interleaving 208 the systematic bits andparity-check bits of the rate-matched codeword so as to obtain aninterleaved codeword, wherein the systematic bits of the interleavedcodeword are mapped to modulation label positions of a modulationconstellation with first reliabilities and the parity-check bits of theinterleaved codeword are mapped to modulation label positions of themodulation constellation with second reliabilities.

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of a corresponding method according to anembodiment of the disclosure. The method can be implemented in areceiving device 100, such as the one in FIG. 2. The method 400comprises receiving 402 a communication signal 520 from a transmittingdevice 100, wherein the communication signal 520 comprises a pluralityof modulation symbols. The method 400 further comprises de-mapping 404the plurality of modulation symbols so as to obtain a plurality of softbit labels, wherein each soft bit label of the plurality of soft bitlabels comprises systematic soft bits and parity-check soft bits. Themethod 400 further comprises deinterleaving 406 the plurality of softbit labels so as to obtain a deinterleaved soft codeword, wherein thesystematic soft bits of the plurality of soft bit labels are de-mappedfrom modulation label positions of a modulation constellation with firstreliabilities and the parity-check soft bits of the plurality of softbit labels are de-mapped from modulation label positions of themodulation constellation with second reliabilities. The method 400further comprises de-rate-matching 408 the deinterleaved soft codewordso as to obtain a de-rate-matched soft codeword.

In this section some performance results for embodiments of thedisclosure are presented with reference to FIG. 8. In this respectsimulations have been performed and the simulation parameters aresummarized in Table 1. The parity-check matrices were constructed usingbase matrix 1 as agreed in RAN1.

TABLE 1 Simulation parameters. Channel model AWGN Modulation 256QAMCodeword length 12320, 9856, 7392 Information word length 4928 Code rate0.4, 0.5, 0.667 Decoding iterations 50, flooding BP

The x-axis shows signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the y-axis shows theblock error rate (BLER). FIG. 8 shows the BLER performance of anLDPC-coded system using embodiments of the disclosure (solid lines)compared with a LDPC-coded system without interleaving (dashed lines).In these evaluations, it is assumed the initial transmission case, i.e.ry=0. We observe that significant gains can be obtained using thepresent interleaver. It can be derived from FIG. 8 that a gain of 0.25,0.3, 0.625 dB corresponding to code rates 0.667, 0.5 and 0.4 is seen forBLER=0.1.

TABLE 2 SNR gain for block length K = 4928 bits and 256QAM modulation.Code rate SNR gain @ BLER = 10⁻¹ 2/5 0.625 1/2 0.3 2/3 0.25

The transmitting device 100 and the receiving device 300 may be any typeof communication device with the capabilities to transmit, respectively,receive communication signals in a communication system 500. Mentionedcommunication system 500 may be a wireless communication system, a wiredcommunication system or in a combination thereof. Examples of suchcommunication systems are LTE, LTE Advanced, NR, Wi-Fi, HSPA, HSDPA andWideband CDMA.

In embodiments the transmitting device 100 and the receiving device 300are a client device or a network access node.

The client device may be denoted herein as a user device, a UserEquipment (UE), a mobile station, an internet of things (IoT) device, asensor device, a wireless terminal and/or a mobile terminal, is enabledto communicate wirelessly in a wireless communication system, sometimesalso referred to as a cellular radio system. The UEs may further bereferred to as mobile telephones, cellular telephones, computer tabletsor laptops with wireless capability. The UEs in the present context maybe, for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held,computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, enabled tocommunicate voice and/or data, via the radio access network, withanother entity, such as another receiver or a server. The UE can be aStation (STA), which is any device that contains an IEEE802.11-conformant Media Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)interface to the Wireless Medium (WM). The UE may also be configured forcommunication in 3GPP related LTE and LTE-Advanced, in WiMAX and itsevolution, and in fifth generation wireless technologies, such as NewRadio.

The network access node herein may also be denoted as a radio networkaccess node, an access network access node, an access point, or a basestation, e.g. a Radio Base Station (RBS), which in some networks may bereferred to as transmitter, “eNB”, “eNodeB”, “NodeB” or “B node”,depending on the technology and terminology used. The radio networkaccess nodes may be of different classes such as e.g. macro eNodeB, homeeNodeB or pico base station, based on transmission power and therebyalso cell size. The radio network access node can be a Station (STA),which is any device that contains an IEEE 802.11-conformant Media AccessControl (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) interface to the Wireless Medium(WM). The radio network access node may also be a base stationcorresponding to the fifth generation (5G) wireless systems.

Furthermore, any method according to embodiments of the disclosure maybe implemented in a computer program, having code means, which when runby processing means causes the processing means to execute the steps ofthe method. The computer program is included in a computer readablemedium of a computer program product. The computer readable medium maycomprise essentially any memory, such as a Read-Only Memory (ROM), aProgrammable Read-Only Memory (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), a Flashmemory, an Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a hard disk drive.

Moreover, it is realized by the skilled person that embodiments of thetransmitting device 100 and the receiving device 300 comprise thenecessary communication capabilities in the form of e.g., functions,means, units, elements, etc., for performing the present solution.Examples of other such means, units, elements and functions are:processors, memory, buffers, control logic, encoders, decoders, ratematchers, de-rate matchers, mapping units, multipliers, decision units,selecting units, switches, interleavers, de-interleavers, modulators,demodulators, inputs, outputs, antennas, amplifiers, receiver units,transmitter units, DSPs, MSDs, TCM encoder, TCM decoder, power supplyunits, power feeders, communication interfaces, communication protocols,etc. which are suitably arranged together for performing the presentsolution.

Especially, the processor(s) of the transmitting device 100 and thereceiving device 300 may comprise, e.g., one or more instances of aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), a processing unit, a processing circuit,a processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), amicroprocessor, or other processing logic that may interpret and executeinstructions. The expression “processor” may thus represent a processingcircuitry comprising a plurality of processing circuits, such as, e.g.,any, some or all of the ones mentioned above. The processing circuitrymay further perform data processing functions for inputting, outputting,and processing of data comprising data buffering and device controlfunctions, such as call processing control, user interface control, orthe like.

Finally, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited tothe embodiments described above, but also relates to and incorporatesall implementations within the scope of the appended independent claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A transmitting device for a communication system,the transmitting device comprising: a processor; and a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium including computer-executable instructionsthat, when executed by the processor, facilitate the transmitting devicecarrying out a method comprising: obtaining an information messagecomprising an information bits addressed for a receiving device;encoding the information message to obtain a codeword; rate-matching thecodeword to produce a rate-matched codeword comprising a systematic bitsand a parity-check bits; and jointly interleaving the systematic bitsand the parity-check bits of the rate-matched codeword to obtain aninterleaved codeword, wherein the systematic bits of the interleavedcodeword are mapped to a modulation label positions of a modulationconstellation with a first reliabilities and the parity-check bits ofthe interleaved codeword are mapped to the modulation label positions ofthe modulation constellation with a second reliabilities.
 2. Thetransmitting device according to claim 1, wherein each of the firstreliabilities is higher than any of the second reliabilities in aninitial transmission.
 3. The transmitting device according to claim 1,wherein each of the first reliabilities is lower than any of the secondreliabilities in a re-transmission.
 4. The transmitting device accordingto claim 2, wherein the interleaved codeword is a matrix having mcolumns and s rows, wherein m is the number of bits in a labels of themodulation constellation, and wherein s times m is at least equal to alength of the codeword.
 5. The transmitting device according to claim 4wherein, in an initial transmission, the method comprises: circularlyshifting each row of the matrix to obtain a re-arranged row for each rowof the matrix, wherein a systematic bits of a row of the matrix arearranged in a left-most positions of a re-arranged row and aparity-check bits of the row of the matrix are arranged in a right-mostpositions of the re-arranged row, wherein bits in the left-mostpositions of the re-arranged row are mapped to a modulation labelpositions of the modulation constellation with a first reliability andbits in the right-most positions of the re-arranged row are mapped tothe modulation label positions of the modulation constellation with asecond reliability.
 6. The transmitting device according to claim 2wherein, in a re-transmission, the method comprises: circularly shiftingeach row of the matrix to obtain a re-arranged row for each row of thematrix, wherein a systematic bits of a row of the matrix are arranged ina right-most positions of a re-arranged row and a parity-check bits ofthe row of the matrix are arranged in a left-most positions of there-arranged row, wherein bits in the left-most positions of there-arranged row are mapped to a modulation label positions of themodulation constellation with a second reliability and bits in theright-most positions of the re-arranged row are mapped to the modulationlabel positions of the modulation constellation with a firstreliability.
 7. The transmitting device according to claim 5 wherein themethod comprises: mapping each re-arranged row onto a modulation symbolof the modulation constellation to obtain a plurality of modulationsymbols; and transmitting the plurality of modulation symbols in acommunication signal to the receiving device.
 8. The transmitting deviceaccording to claim 4 wherein, in the initial transmission, the methodcomprises: selecting a systematic bits of each row of the matrix toobtain a first sub-row for each row of the matrix, wherein a firstsub-row comprises the systematic bits of a row of the matrix, wherein abits in the first sub-row are mapped to a modulation label positions ofthe modulation constellation with a first reliability; and selecting aparity-check bits of each row of the matrix to obtain a second sub-rowfor each row of the matrix, wherein a second sub-row comprises theparity-check bits of a row of the matrix, wherein a bits in the secondsub-row are mapped to a modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with a second reliability.
 9. The transmitting deviceaccording to claim 4 wherein, in the re-transmission, the methodcomprises: selecting a parity-check bits of each row of the matrix toobtain a first sub-row for each row of the matrix, wherein a firstsub-row comprises the parity-check bits of a row of the matrix, whereina bits in the first sub-row are mapped to a modulation label positionsof the modulation constellation with a second reliability; and selectinga systematic bits of each row of the matrix to obtain a second sub-rowfor each row of the matrix, wherein a second sub-row comprises thesystematic bits of a row of the matrix, wherein a bits in the secondsub-row are mapped to a modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with a first reliability.
 10. The transmitting deviceaccording to claim 8 wherein the method comprises: combining the firstsub-row and the second sub-row of each row in the matrix to obtain acombined row for each row of the matrix; mapping each combined row to amodulation symbol of the modulation constellation to obtain a pluralityof modulation symbols; and transmitting the plurality of modulationsymbols in a communication signal to the receiving device.
 11. Thetransmitting device according to claim 7 wherein the method comprises:determining a control message, wherein the control message comprises anindication of a number of information bits of the information message, anumber of encoded bits of the codeword, and a modulation order of themodulation symbol; and transmitting the control message to the receivingdevice.
 12. The transmitting device according to claim 1, wherein themodulation constellation is a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)constellation.
 13. The transmitting device according to claim 1, whereinthe codeword belongs to a low-density parity-check (LDPC) code book. 14.A receiving device for a communication system, the receiving devicecomprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable mediumincluding computer-executable instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, facilitate the transmitting device carrying out a methodcomprising: receiving a communication signal from a transmitting device,wherein the communication signal comprises a plurality of modulationsymbols; de-mapping the plurality of modulation symbols to obtain aplurality of soft bit labels, wherein each soft bit label of theplurality of soft bit labels comprises a systematic soft bits and aparity-check soft bits; deinterleaving the plurality of soft bit labelsto obtain a deinterleaved soft codeword, wherein the systematic softbits of the plurality of soft bit labels are de-mapped from a modulationlabel positions of a modulation constellation with a first reliabilitiesand the parity-check soft bits of the plurality of soft bit labels arede-mapped from the modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with a second reliabilities; and de-rate-matching thedeinterleaved soft codeword to obtain a de-rate-matched soft codeword.15. The receiving device according to claim 14, wherein each of thefirst reliabilities is higher than any of the second reliabilities in aninitial reception.
 16. The receiving device according to claim 14,wherein each of the first reliabilities is lower than any of the secondreliabilities in a subsequent reception.
 17. The receiving deviceaccording to claim 14, wherein the method comprises: decoding thede-rate matched soft codeword to obtain an information message.
 18. Thereceiving device according to claim 14, wherein the method comprises:obtaining a control message, wherein the control message comprises anindication of a number of information bits of the information message, anumber of encoded bits of the codeword, and a modulation order of themodulation symbol; and deinterleaving the plurality of soft labels basedon the control message.
 19. A method for a transmitting device, themethod comprising: obtaining an information message comprising aninformation bits addressed for a receiving device; encoding theinformation message to obtain a codeword; rate-matching the codeword toproduce a rate-matched codeword comprising systematic bits andparity-check bits; and jointly interleaving the systematic bits and theparity-check bits of the rate-matched codeword to obtain an interleavedcodeword, wherein the systematic bits of the interleaved codeword aremapped to a modulation label positions of a modulation constellationwith a first reliabilities and the parity-check bits of the interleavedcodeword are mapped to the modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with a second reliabilities.
 20. A method for a receivingdevice, the method comprising: receiving a communication signal from atransmitting device, wherein the communication signal comprises aplurality of modulation symbols; de-mapping the plurality of modulationsymbols to obtain a plurality of soft bit labels, wherein each soft bitlabel of the plurality of soft bit labels comprises a systematic softbits and a parity-check soft bits; deinterleaving the plurality of softbit labels to obtain a deinterleaved soft codeword, wherein thesystematic soft bits of the plurality of soft bit labels are de-mappedfrom a modulation label positions of a modulation constellation with afirst reliabilities and the parity-check soft bits of the plurality ofsoft bit labels are de-mapped from the modulation label positions of themodulation constellation with a second reliabilities; andde-rate-matching the deinterleaved soft codeword to obtain ade-rate-matched soft codeword.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium including a program code for performing, by a transmittingdevice, a method comprising: obtaining an information message comprisingan information bits addressed for a receiving device; encoding theinformation message to obtain a codeword; rate-matching the codeword toproduce a rate-matched codeword comprising a systematic bits and aparity-check bits; and jointly interleaving the systematic bits and theparity-check bits of the rate-matched codeword to obtain an interleavedcodeword, wherein the systematic bits of the interleaved codeword aremapped to a modulation label positions of a modulation constellationwith a first reliabilities and the parity-check bits of the interleavedcodeword are mapped to the modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with a second reliabilities when the program code runs ona computer.
 22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including aprogram code for performing, by a receiving device, a method comprising:receiving a communication signal from a transmitting device, wherein thecommunication signal comprises a plurality of modulation symbols;de-mapping the plurality of modulation symbols to obtain a plurality ofsoft bit labels, wherein each soft bit label of the plurality of softbit labels comprises a systematic soft bits and a parity-check softbits; deinterleaving the plurality of soft bit labels to obtain adeinterleaved soft codeword, wherein the systematic soft bits of theplurality of soft bit labels are de-mapped from a modulation labelpositions of a modulation constellation with a first reliabilities andthe parity-check soft bits of the plurality of soft bit labels arede-mapped from the modulation label positions of the modulationconstellation with a second reliabilities; and de-rate-matching thedeinterleaved soft codeword to obtain a de-rate-matched soft codeword.